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Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Stripping glass off the deck of the Folkboat, I used a heatgun and a sharp, thin bladed paintscraper. The scraper is thin and flexible and once you get going the blade gets really hot and slides easily under the glass. The blade is also sharp enough so that when you've slid it under the glass you can then pull it out and push it through the glass so that it cuts it and you can peel the glass away in strips about 8cm wide. I also worried about burning the plywood under the glass but keeping the blade hot meant I didn't have to heat up the glass so much. I actually found it a lot easier to remove glass than it is to remove some paints. Rick

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Stipping glass is a bitch and there is no other term to describe it! I have used a Fein Multitool in some cases. But when push comes to shove RFNK's method works every time.
I think that I can speak for everyone when I say that we greatly admire your fortitude! Once the grunt work is over, your creative work will be the reward for your efforts.
Personally, I like the ketch rig better than the sloop. However, as mentioned before, "Bright Star" will soon sport LFH's sloop mast which is four feet taller and retain the mizzen mast for sailing off the wind. There are great advantages to having the mizzen for balance and setting greater area when it is time to fly kites.
Jay

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Rick, that sounds like it would have been quite a lot easier. I did get a bit of a method going by lifting an end with a scraper then getting a hold of the glass with plyers or a glove and pulling very carefully while heating the glass as it lifted then scraping of the remaining resin with the scraper. Slow and tedious but it did come off. Though I reckon I'll revert to your method for the remainder.

Jay, I hear what you are saying with the ketch rig. The value of this boat when I bought her was in the huon pine hull and the quite new aluminium mast and boom and the rigging so I won't be too quick to swap it over for a wooden rig, which would make it interesting to build a mizzen mast and boom myself.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Originally Posted by Candyfloss

There are more important things than headroom Greg. 'Specially when, like me, you are only 5ft10.

I never considered my 5'7" an advantage until I started work on my boat. Has facilitated access into a number of places. I wonder what you big guys do when you have to get into the bowels of your boat.

Lovely lovely name plaque man. Are you going to gold leaf or paint the engraved letters? That would be wicked sharp I think.

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

This is a great thread. I am in the same process with a 1947 Stoutfella Jr. It is a 27' boat built by Palmer Johnson, fir planking over white oak frames. It has been out of the water for over 20 years. I too bought it because the hull was good and it fit in my shop! My keel/deadwood looks almost identical to yours although I did not have any fiberglass on it. My decks were fiberglass over ply, but it was done so poorly that I could peal it up almost like it was duct tape! The foredeck also had a layer of window screening glued down under the fiberglass. Cabin top was still canvas although in need of replacing. I am also using a heat gun for paint removal and have all of the port side stripped and about a third of the starboard. I will post some pictures later, I need help with that from my 16 year old daughter!

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Originally Posted by chuckt

I never considered my 5'7" an advantage until I started work on my boat. Has facilitated access into a number of places. I wonder what you big guys do when you have to get into the bowels of your boat.

Lovely lovely name plaque man. Are you going to gold leaf or paint the engraved letters? That would be wicked sharp I think.

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

What's with the angle of the boat in the crane? A guy at the end holding a bit of rope isn't going to stop her sliding out! Looks like you're doing a great job - not piecemeal like me! H28s are Awesome.

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Originally Posted by gavinpascoe

What's with the angle of the boat in the crane? A guy at the end holding a bit of rope isn't going to stop her sliding out! Looks like you're doing a great job - not piecemeal like me! H28s are Awesome.

But he was a decent lump of a bloke.... .. Don't worry Gavin, she wasn't going to slide anywhere, but we had to control the swing to manoeuvre her into position on the cradle with her bow inside the shed before letting her down and out of the slings.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Finally!! I've been able to get back into some paint stripping inside the hull. When you're up nice and close it looks like I've made good progress after a pretty solid day of contorting myself up in the bow (not quite as difficult as when stripping that first set of frames right up forward but difficult enough):

But when I step back a bit I see just how much more there is to do, quite disheartening really:

Going on my current pace, I estimate another 60 to 80 hours of work to strip the interior. But don't worry, I won't post a continuous series of mind numbing paint stripping progress photos, this was just because I was quite happy to be able to get back to it.

I'm not real sure what to do about the rove heads, I may have to go back to them with a wire wheel or one of those plastic scouring wheels. The wire wheel is likely to leave hidden bits of loose wire to rust in the bilges.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Originally Posted by Larks

Finally!! I've been able to get back into some paint stripping inside the hull. When you're up nice and close it looks like I've made good progress after a pretty solid day of contorting myself up in the bow (not quite as difficult as when stripping that first set of frames right up forward but difficult enough):

But when I step back a bit I see just how much more there is to do, quite disheartening really:

Going on my current pace, I estimate another 60 to 80 hours of work to strip the interior. But don't worry, I won't post a continuous series of mind numbing paint stripping progress photos, this was just because I was quite happy to be able to get back to it.

I'm not real sure what to do about the rove heads, I may have to go back to them with a wire wheel or one of those plastic scouring wheels. The wire wheel is likely to leave hidden bits of loose wire to rust in the bilges.

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

A brass wheel Greg ?

That would make more sense, thanks Peter.

Gary, I might do just as you suggest and maybe go right through the bilge area next and red lead it and fill the voids at the turn of the bilge with bees wax as suggested by Jay. It'll also make it easier to keep it clean when stripping the rest of the sides.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

hey Greg,how about a pressure washer on a light setting, what does not come off maybe strong enough to stay, dry with a hot air gun, light sanding,then it should be a good base,

I wondered about that Peter and am quite pleased to hear you suggest it. There is quite a mix of paint throughout and a lot of it flaking up in the bow area, some of the frames, in the bilges and the floors.

I did try that on my Hartley and found that it wasn't as effective as I'd hoped, but most of it was quite cramped and hard to get to. I'll give it a go next weekend and see how it looks.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

I reckon Peter R's suggestion is a good one except that it'll leave ridges of paint that then have to be faired in by sanding, and this can take as much time and energy as stripping the whole lot with the heatgun. I'd use PR's suggestion and blast it all out with the pressure washer but then take the rest off with the heatgun anyway as it's then a simple job to sand it all smooth and get a good smooth finish on it. You've already done the bow, which is the worst bit from a discomfort point of view! Rick

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

I tried the pressure wash and a bit of a scrub but it didn't have much of an impact at all really, so it's been a case of persist with the scraper after work for an hour here and there and a couple of hours this weekend.

Slow work... but gratifying I guess - almost half way:

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Thanks Peter, also amazing how many sins a bit of paint can hide. Fortunately nothing mortal, just a few repair short cuts that I'd like to put right - but the purpose of stripping the paint was mostly to find these sins now rather than later ayway.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Had a bit of a break from paint scraping this weekend to set up a semblance of an irrigation system for my deadwood.

I'd previously lifted the hull slightly bit by bit to drag some plastic sheeting underneath it. ' just jacked it up enough to be able to slide out the blocks, creep the plastic through and slide the blocks back in then do the same again up front:

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

I've used some drip irrigation line with a few sprinkler heads run off of a reasonably cheap pond pump that I bought on ebay, plus some tape and a few sets of plastic clamps from Super cheap autos to hold the plastic up:

And it seems to work just fine, a few refinementes possibly needed but otherwise OK in the test run:

So the plan is to add some salt and run another line down through the inside of the hull, possibly with a tap system so that I can switch between the inside and outside if I want to.

Last edited by Larks; 06-06-2010 at 06:08 AM.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

Greg, I might mention that I have used burlap that was stapled to the planking in conjunction with a drip system and also plastic over all. The burlap does retain moisture. Have you checked your keel bolts for condition and possible take up?
I do admire your tenacity!
Fair Winds,
Jay

Re: H28 "Larrikin" rebuild

The water does get recirculated, the pump sits in a bit of a sump formed by the plastic and a couple of bricks, which I hadn't shown here. And I have measured the gaps, photographed the tape measure, I didn't bother adding that photo.

You'd mentioned the burlap/hessian before Jay and I'll add some as well so that I get a better coverage of the timber. I haven't tried to tighten any of the keel bolts as yet, I figure that I'd like to see just how well the timber might take up after a decent period of soaking before I start worrying about the next step, I don't want to go overtightening anything just yet.

Larks

“It’s impossible”, said pride.
“It’s risky”, said experience.
“It’s pointless”, said reason.
“Give it a try”, whispered the heart.

LPBC Beneficiary

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great!"